It was not common place for UNB to enter tournaments in the 70's and 80's, so when Coach Mike Johnston took UNB on a Christmas trip to Alberta to play in the 1992 Viking Cup it was a big deal. This would be the club's first tournament since 1974. This also marked a home-coming for Coach Johnston who had coach previously at Augustana University College when it was Camrose Lutheran College (the name changed in 1991).

The Tournament

The bi-annual tournament was hosted by the Augustana University College (Camrose Lutheran College). The event began in the early 80's and ended in 2006. The tournament format varied over the years, but there was always an international visitor(s). This particular event comprised of two pools of three teams; Pool A comprised of UNB, host Augustana University Vikings and CFSR Junior Selects (Czechoslovakia). Pool B comprised local entry Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) Ooks, Commonwealth of Independent States (Russia) Junior Selects and Farjestad Elite Juniors (Sweden). Each team would play two games within their pools with the top two teams advancing to single-elimination playdown.

NOTE: at this time in history, the USSR (CCCP) was unfolding and officially dissolved on December 25th, 1991 after which the largest and senior state adopted the title Russian Federation. There were players on the Russian team that were not from the Russian Federation, rather they were from states that were part of the USSR, but were now independent countries. The Russian Federation and the other former Russian states were part of a common alliance - Commonwealth of Independent States. Thus, the hockey team adopted this title to reflect the broader nationalities of the players on the team.

Preliminary Games

Game 1 - (W) UNB (10) vs Augustana (2)
This game was all UNB with a 4-0 lead after one period (4 goals on UNB's first four shots), and 9-1 after two. Forbe MacPherson led the way for UNB with 2 goals and 2 assists for 4pts and player-of-the-game honours. Trevor Boland & Gord Christian each had a pair of goals of their own.

Game 2 - (W) UNB (4) vs CFSR (Czechoslovakia) Junior Selects (2)
UNB was trailing 2-0 early in the second, but a short-handed goal by Ken Murchison and a even-strength goal by Joey MacTamney evened the game. UNB took the lead into the second intermission on a goal by Brian Wilson. Clyde Simmons extended UNB's lead mid-way through the 3rd and Chris Somers held the fort the rest of the way facing 37 shots in the game. Future NHL'ers Pavol Demitra, David Vyborny and Jozef Cierny played for the Junior Selects

UNB would be 2-0 in their pool and would advance against the 2nd place team in Pool B.

Semi-Finals - (W) UNB (5) vs NAIT (4) OT
NAIT had 2-0 and 4-2 leads in the third period, but UNB battled back in both cases. Two goals early in the third to tie it at two (Boland and Niro) and two more in the last 10-minutes to tie the game again at four and force overtime (Colvin & Boland's second). In overtime, Trevor Boland won a draw in his own end and went the length of the ice to score the game winner (his 3rd of the game), on the power-play, with 7 seconds remaining in OT. NAIT would win Bronze the next day, over the Czechoslovakia Junior Selects, in overtime, 3-2.

Tournament Champions

UNB won the championship with a 4-2 victory over the CIS (Russia) Junior Selects. The Russian team had future NHL'ers Sergei Gonchar, Sergei Brylin, Andrei Nazarov & Sergei Klimovich. UNB's Trevor Boland opened the scoring only to have the Russian Selects score two of their own (Nazarov & Pigolitsin) to take a 2-1 lead after the first period. UNB tied the game in the second and took the lead by the end of the period on goals by Colvin and Cavanagh. UNB extended the lead in the third on Boland's second of the game to win by 2. While UNB had started the tournament slowly having been off for 3 weeks, the Russian team had played an 8 game western road-trip prior to the tournament.

UNB's victory was the third in a row by a USPORTS entry, on the heels of Alberta (1988) and McGill (1990). This also marked the last time a USPORTS team was invited to the 'open' tournament.

Tournament All-Stars

Forwards

Defence

Trevor Boland (UNB)

Mike Cavanagh (UNB)

Denis Lozhkin (Russia)

Libor Prochazka (Czechoslovakia)

Greg Gekdart (NAIT)

Goalie

Chris Somers (UNB)

Tournament MVP

Sergei Brylin (Russia)

UNB Journal

Not all of the Red Devils played in the tournament;
- Captain Murray Nystrom was ineligable as he was over 24 and instead worked on the bench
- Jason Lessif was recovering from a injured knee
- Rob Bolden was recovering from the lingering affects of mononucleosis

Added to the roster was Jason Butler of the Fredericton Junior Caps.

After the tournament, UNB bused to Banff for a day of Skiing before taking a red-eye flight out of Calgary.

Additional Material

The Coin - 2012

UNB hosted the Rusian Junior Hockey League (MHL) Red Stars in a two-game Saint John/Fredericton exhibition series over the 2012-13 Christmas break (Dec. 30-31st) for the 8th Pete Kelly Cup. The key marketing brand of the series was the 40th anniversary of the Canada-Soviet Summit Series. UNB wore custom Canada jerseys with the names and numbers of the Team Canada players from the '72 series and Phil Esposito was the honourary tournament chairman.

UNB won both games with scores of 7-3 (Saint John) and 5-2 (Fredericton)

This also marked the 20th anniversary of UNB winning the '92 Viking Cup (also over a Russian team).

To commemorate the Summit Series, the Viking Cup victory and the Pete Kelly Cup series, a coin was commisioned to celebrate these events. On the 'heads' side is the UNB Varsity Reds logo with a reminder that UNB Hockey is over 100 year's old, the school's name and location in Latin and the founding date in roman numerials (1785). The 'tails' side identifies Pete Kelly Challenge, the year and location of the games. In the middle is a silhouette of a hockey player shouldered by each country's flag. In the Canadian flag is the text "SUMMIT 72 VIKING CUP 92" to identify Canada as the victor in each event.